High-bandwidth, free space optical communications links for drone networks

A free space optical communication system for unmanned aerial vehicles, the system comprising:

• a base station optical communications device configured to transmit and receive optical signals, the base station comprising:
• a laser light source configured to produce an outgoing laser emission;
• a first pointing, acquisition, and tracking (PAT) module operating on a first computing device, the first PAT module configured to acquire and track an unmanned aerial vehicle;
• and
• a first solid-state beam steering device configured to aim the outgoing laser emission at the unmanned aerial device based on tracking information from the first PAT module;
• an unmanned aerial vehicle optical communications device comprising:
• a common optics arrangement configured to both receive the outgoing laser emission from the base station and transmit a return laser emission to the base station through a single shared aperture;
• a second PAT module operating on a second computing device, the second PAT module configured to acquire and track the base station;
• and
• a second solid-state beam steering device configured to aim the return laser emission at the base station optical communications device based on tracking information from the second PAT module;
• and
• a fiber optic coupler between the common optics arrangement and the second solid-state beam steering device.